Death And Broken People
by luvsbitca
Summary: Ironman dies, how do the people around Tony, mainly Pepper, deal with his lose when the world keeps turning. Is he really dead? No one knows.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, I should be writing report comments for the reports that are due on Friday, instead I am here and writing an Ironman fic because well Procrastination and I are very good friends.  
It's a multi-chapter fic, something I haven't done in ages because I keep losing interest. But the other option is to actually write my comments, so enjoy.

DISCLAIMER – I don't own them, but I do like to play so if you let me do that I won't complain about you owning them.  
Spoilers for the second movie.

And on with the show.

**Death and Broken People  
****by Moonbeam**

**Chapter 1 - Explosions**

"Ironman is dead!"

Pepper heard the news report and saw the horrible footage of Ironman blowing up in hideous blue and red fire. "Tony!" she gasped before sitting down on the couch. "Jarvis!"

"Miss Potts?"

"Call Tony, or Rhodey. Now!"

"I cannot access Mr Stark. Lt. Colonel Rhodes is on the line." The artificial British voice said.

"Rhodey. What happened to Tony?"

"How did you-?"

"It's on the news. Is he okay?" Pepper's voice was desperate and she could feel her entire body tense waiting for his answer while she found it hard to breathe.

"He's...I'm not sure Pepper. All we have found is a panel off the suit. There is nothing else here."

"Oh God!" Pepper whispered burying her face in her hands.

"Pepper, we don't know anything."

"I saw that explosion Rhodey. Tell me the truth!" Pepper demanded.

"It looks bad Pepper, I think unless we find some evidence of something different that ... he is dead." Pepper could hear the dread in James' voice and knew that he really believed they would find nothing; that his best friend was dead.

"I'm so sorry James; I'll leave you to the search. Please call me regardless of what you find."

"You'll be my first call Pepper. Will you still be at Tony's?"

"Yes." Pepper and James said their goodbyes before Pepper disconnected and stared out the window in front of her. She knew that what Rhodey had not been telling her was that he could not have survived an explosion like that, even if the suit was completely intact. But she had to know the truth.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss Potts?"

"Do you have the footage of the explosion?"

"I am accessing it now, from multiple sources."

"Can you run a diagnostic, or simulation or something to see what the likelihood of him surviving that is?" Pepper didn't know how to ask the computer if Tony was dead.

"Certainly Miss Potts, I will notify you as soon as my simulation is complete." Jarvis went silent and Pepper left him to his work, staring out of the window as she contemplated how she could very well be losing the most important person in her life.

An hour later Pepper had not moved.

"Miss Potts?" Pepper jumped at Jarvis' voice.

"Yes Jarvis?"

"I have finished running my simulations and have found the chances of survival to be 1:100 000. In all likelihood even if Mr Stark survived he would be critically injured."

Pepper started crying, Tony was dead!

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Hope you enjoyed, I will update soon, hopefully. Please review it makes me blush!


	2. Chapter 2

My reports are still not finished, but that is inconsequential given that I am writing this, they only have to be finished by 1pm tomorrow anyway.  
DISCLAIMER – I don't own them, but I do like to play so if you let me do that I won't complain about you owning them.  
Spoilers for the second movie.  
And on with the show – part 2.

**Death and Broken People  
****by Moonbeam**

**Chapter 2 - Transitions**

It seemed too easy really. Miss Potts was the CEO of Stark Industries, Mr Stark was Ironman and inventing genius who was revolutionising green energy and making the world a better place. But after work when he would call her, or she would swing by and suddenly they were just Pepper and Tony and it was much too easy to slip into kissing him because she wanted to and just watching him in his workshop, something she had always loved but had never been able to do. So they spent all their time together, which was not that different from the last ten years except now at the end of the evening, Pepper would lure Tony out of the workroom with the promise of sex or sleep which turned out to be much easier than it had ever been to drag him out when she had been his personal assistant.

It was also a lot nicer to be able to hold him when he came back from a mission, after she had been worrying about him for two years without being able to wrap her arms around him when he landed in his basement. For two years as soon as she had finished her work and she knew he was on a mission she would be down here, in his workroom sitting in front of his computers waiting for him. Then he would return, and Jarvis would get him out of the suit and she would watch as each piece was removed. When he pulled down the flight suit she would catalogue injuries as he slowly disrobed. She would tend to the ones she could. And she knew that he called a private doctor as soon as she left to deal with anything she could not fix. She had often contemplated learning how to stitch him up; just so she could make sure he was taken care of.

Then, after one night on a rooftop, she walked over when he had his flight suit around his waist and just wrapped her arms around him. She had been so completely relieved that she just held him, finally after all this time she could just hold him and she did, until finally he had moved away from her and gone into his shower. She was waiting for him when he came out with wet hair and a pair of track pants on. He had held his hand out to her and they walked up to his bedroom hand in hand. When they reached his bedroom he pulled back the sheets, pushed her into bed and crawled in behind her with barely a grimace before pulling her body against him and whispering that he was safe in her ear. A few tears leaked out of her eyes but it felt good to have his body pressed against hers when she fell into an exhausted sleep.

It became a pattern for them when he came back from a mission late. Any other time of the day was different. But whenever she saw him after a mission she would wrap her arms around him and just breathe him in. Then one day at 1pm, just before she was supposed to have a meeting with the Financial Committee of Stark Industries, Ironman appeared in her office asked her to come with him and flew away from the building after asking her secretary to cancel the rest of her day. They landed in his basement and she wondered why he had pulled her out of her office, he refused to answer her, but she saw it, the large dent in the back of the suit. The hideous bruise that marred his back and the cuts from where his suit was shredded down one arm and his left side. The fact he was limping now he didn't have suit hydraulics to pick up the slack. He had taken one hell of a beating. She wanted to hold him, but knew it would hurt him to be held by her. She had held her ground, keeping herself standing tensely straight and completely rigid. That was until he reached a hand out to her and she moved towards him quickly. He pulled her body tight against him, her head cupped in his shoulder. Always it had been about her having him alive and well and in her arms. But that day she realised her liked to know that she was not going anywhere either; that he was safe and she was waiting for him.

It was not that they kept it quiet, neither really cared one way nor the other if everyone and their dog knew. They knew where they stood. She knew he loved her because she knew him better than any person had ever known him. And he believed her when she said she loved him even if a part of him found it hard to accept. It was really that no one worked it out. They had been living in each other's pocket for a decade. It was not strange for them to arrive at function together. To spend most of the evening together, or for that matter to leave together. The press was still more interested in the fact that THE INFAMAOUS HOUND Tony Stark was not bedding every woman who walked in front or behind him anymore than to worry if he was sleeping, and basically living, with the woman who had been running his life for ten years.

Pepper had often thought about what it would be like to be involved with Tony, she knew him so well. Knew that he was a genius who was also a broken little boy who desperately wanted to be loved but feared getting hurt more than anything so buried himself in nameless women and alcohol and reckless behaviour. Yet through all of the things he had done to push everyone away Rhodey and she had stayed. She thought it would be a constant fight to get him to let her in but she had been surprised to discover that she and Tony had been involved everywhere but the bedroom for at least five years. Adding the distance of no longer working as his personal assistant Pepper had found the change to be a little too easy.

Then they had had their first fight.

An amazingly stupid fight about Tony's inability to put his dishes in the dishwasher that had escalated until Pepper had storm out of his house cursing him. She had driven home and cursed him and his self centred, narcissistic arse. She had continued to curse him once she was in her apartment, her rather boring apartment, which was too bare, no work scattered, nothing to show that someone lived here; because she barely lived here anymore. She had started to calm down, started to think maybe she had overreacted when there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find Tony standing there holding a tub of ice cream.

"What no flowers?" she had said sarcastically even though she was so pleased to have him standing there.

"Too boring." Tony said pulling her body into his and kissing her until they were both gasping for breath.

"Thank God. I was being stupid." Pepper said without moving away from him.

"No, I was an idiot; I will do whatever you want. Just don't leave like that again."

"Okay." Pepper kissed hi m again and pulled him into her apartment where they put the ice cream to good use and spent their first and ultimately last night in her apartment.

Pepper had commented once that perhaps she should actually go home on the odd occasion. But Tony would just shake his head and kiss her until she forgot why she thought it was a good idea. Their life, their relationship had gone from nonexistent to totally serious very quickly but it always made complete sense. They had been going along so very well until that morning when he had left, she had had a bad feeling.

He never came home.

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Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

I got such a lovely response to last chapter. This one is a short one but I'm exhausted and I don't think it needs anything more. I have the rest of the story planned and bits and pieces written, I am enjoying this whole chapter fic thing. Haven't done it in yonks.  
DISCLAIMER – I don't own them, but I do like to play so if you let me do that I won't complain about you owning them.  
Spoilers for the second movie.  
And on with the show – part 3.

**Death and Broken People  
****by Moonbeam**

**Chapter 3 – A Little More Complication**

Pepper looked down at the plastic stick in her hand and started crying. She moved down to the floor and relished the cold tile as her body shook with tears. She felt the floor begin to heat up and knew that Jarvis was looking after her.

Tony had been gone two weeks. She had barely left Tony's house. She had left the running of Stark Industries to her board of directors, making important decisions when needed. But this changed everything.

Pepper allowed herself another minute before standing and stripping her clothes to step into the shower. She stood under the hot stray for so long she turned pruney before she grabbed her shampoo and set about making herself look human again.

An hour later, her hair was clean, she was dressed in an impeccable if slightly loose suit with heels on her feet and briefcase in hand walking out the front door of Tony's house. She walked to the car and reminded herself to breathe slowly as Happy drove into the office.

As she walked into the foyer of Stark Industries she could feel people's eyes on her. She walked to the elevator and took it up to the top floor. She knew someone had informed her assistant that she was here because as she left the elevator the older woman was standing by the door.

"Good morning Miss Potts."

"Good morning Mrs Jannick."

"How are you doing this morning?"

"Fine, can you please set up a meeting with the board of directors and let me know who else I need to meet with. Are my messages on my desk?"

"All but the ones from the media, I sent them all to the media department and have let them deal with all announcements as you asked."

"Thank you Sarah, let me know what time the directors can meet." Pepper left Sarah at her desk and walked into her office, Tony's old office, seeing his things still to her right, and over to her desk. She put down her briefcase and sat behind her desk. She left her face relax and sighed. She could do this. She needed to get on with her life. She had someone else depending on her again and that meant she could do this. One step at a time. She took a deep breath and picked up her messages. She flipped through them quickly before calling Mrs Jannick on the intercom.

"I'll also need to see Thomas and Shaun from accounting, James from R&D and Todd from Media. Can you please set the meetings up for this afternoon?"

"Yes Miss Potts, the board of directors can meet you in one hour."

"Thank you Mrs Jannick."

Pepper's day passed in a daze of meetings. She didn't have a moment to herself and she was very grateful it had been like that. She was driving home now and finally had a moment to think about something other than Stark Industries and the incredible difficulties that came with the owner/greatest technological advancement dying.

She had studiously not thought about the fact she was pregnant all day. But now, with Happy driving her back to Tony's mansion and nothing else to occupy her mind, she thought about the fact she was pregnant, she was going to be a single mother, that this child was never going to actually meet his or her father. She knew now that she couldn't allow herself to wallow in her own pain anymore. She needed to go back to being the unflappable Virginia Potts she had always been when Tony had been alive. Just like she had always hid her feelings for Tony and publically hid her amusement or censure of his actions she could hid all her feelings behind a mask of distance and professionalism.

All she needed to do now was to get Tony's company settled and then she could worry about what she was going to do with her own life. She still wondered; was he dead? She knew they would have found some evidence of him being alive if he was but her heart just refused to believe she had lost him. She was not ready to live her life without him in it, but she would have probably never been ready.

She had no choice now. She would make sure Stark Industries survived this latest tragedy as they had the previous ones. Then she would have this baby and make sure he or she knew that their father was more than the media ever reported him being.

She could do this.

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Please let me know what you think of the little complication. :)


	4. Chapter 4

I AM AN AUNTY!

And as a result I am putting up the new chapter. This was the second part of the story I wrote, but I'm not sure why something feels wrong with it, but I have to say I just don't want to edit it again. I am just so completely besotted with my baby niece.  
DISCLAIMER – I don't own them, but I do like to play so if you let me do that I won't complain about you owning them.  
Spoilers for the second movie.  
And on with the show – part 4.

**Death and Broken People  
****by Moonbeam**

**Chapter 4 – Wills and Friendship**

"Miss Potts?" A voice said when Pepper picked up the phone.

"Yes?" Pepper answered, assuming that her secretary would have screened the call and she would not have to deal with yet another reporter.

"It is Nigel Winterbourne, Mr Stark's attorney."

"Hello Nigel, it is good to hear from you, how have you been?"

"Well, I hope you are as well." Mr Winterbourne said.

"As well as can be expected. I appreciate the phone call Mr Winterbourne, but I have found that dealing with Mr Stark's presumed death has left me with an incredibly busy schedule. Can I ask the purpose of you call?"

"Of course. Since Mr Stark began his work as Ironman he changed with will to have a 'presumed dead clause'. We need to meet and discuss the terms of his will. Could we please set up a meeting this week?"

"His will?" Pepper felt her breathing quicken and the hole that had taken up permanent residence in her chest was expanding. "We don't even know he is dead."

"I understand that Miss Potts, but he put a very specific stipulation in his will for just such a situation."

"Okay, I can reschedule a meeting tomorrow afternoon at 4pm. Would that suit you?"

"Just let me check, yes that would work for me, can you please come to my office?"

"Of course Mr Winterbourne, I will see you then."

"Thank you Miss Potts, good afternoon." Mr Winterbourne said before Pepper said her goodbyes and they both hung up.

Pepper stared at the phone and reminded herself she was not going to cry at work. She was a professional and she was the CEO, she needed to focus on her work and ignore the gaping pit of despair in her chest.

The next afternoon Pepper was sitting in the waiting room of Nigel Winterbourne's office when Rhodey walked in.

"Rhodey?"

"Pepper, hello, how are you?" Rhodey said, smiling at the receptionist before sitting next to Pepper. He could see the tension that had not left her body in a month, the brittle smile and the pale look that meant she was still not sleeping.

"I'm fine, how are you."

"I am as good as can be expected. How are things at Stark?"

"I'm sorry Rhodey did you know about this stipulation in his will?"

"No, but it doesn't surprise me, he knew what he was doing was dangerous. He wanted to make sure that everything was settled." Rhodey was just about to say more when the door opened and Nigel Winterbourne poked his head out called the two of them in.

Pepper and Rhodey sat down across from Nigel and he picked up the papers in front of him. "I'll get right to it. Mr Anthony Edward Stark changed his will eighteen months ago, with a stipulation that if he, in his capacities as Ironman, were to disappear in a manner that made it reasonable to presume his death his will should be read and carried out."

"We don't know anything yet." Pepper said again.

"Pepper, I was there, I agree with Mr Winterbourne's assessment. If Tony put this together it was for a situation exactly like this."

Pepper took a deep breath and resigned herself to this. She knew that he was probably dead. She had seen the footage, had Jarvis run a statistical analysis of the footage, and had seen the look on Rhodey's face when he had come back with the Mach II suit. She just had to accept it.

"Mr Stark left everything to you Miss Potts, his business, the cars, and his houses, everything except the Ironman suit. Which he has left to Col. Rhodes along with a stipulation that he have use of the basement of the Miami house and that Jarvis be made available to him for any help or corrections that may need to be made. I will now leave you alone with the will; there is also a letter for both of you, to be read at any time after his disappearance. I will give you a few minutes before we sign the documents." Nigel said as he stood and walked into the next room.

Pepper looked at the will without being able to really see what was on the page. "He left me everything?"

"It makes sense. You are his family Pepper." Rhodey voice startled her out of her contemplation and she looked at him with fresh tears in her eyes.

"I am really, really sick of crying." She said vehemently before wiping her eyes and reading the document carefully. "He changed this before we were even seeing one another."

"Tony had three stable people in his life since Obidiah turned into a Sith lord."

Pepper smiled at the reference, Tony and Rhodey had been in love with those movies for as long as she had known them.

"Three?"

"I count Jarvis, I know we were close, I always thought of him as a brother, a younger, impulsive, reckless, genius, smartass brother."

"He felt the same, but with slightly different adjectives." Pepper said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know, but you were the centre of his world. That night we fought Whiplash, when we saw what he had rigged up, you were the first person he thought of. He was gone before I even really knew what was happening. He was in love with you long before Afghanistan and while that gave him a swift kick up the backside, he knew that you were the most important person in the world to him. I knew he'd leave it all to you."

"James, I'm pregnant." Pepper was not at all sure she meant to say that but it just came out and now someone else beside herself and Jarvis knew and it felt good.

"Wow."

"Yeah. I don't want him to be dead. I want him to come back so he doesn't miss out on this and I don't want this baby to miss out on having a father."

"Pepper, if he is alive out there, he will do everything he can to come back. But you can't live your life hoping he will. It won't be good for you, or the baby. If she/he doesn't have a dad can he have a serious awesome uncle who hangs around the basement?"

Pepper took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, that sounds wonderful. Thank you James, for everything. We should get him back to sign this."

"Yeah, and then we are going out to dinner, because you look much too thin."

Pepper smiled at him before he stood and asked Nigel back into the room.

When they had finished signing the papers Pepper asked the question that had been floating around in her head since she had first heard about his will.

"What will happen if Mr Stark returns?"

"Then I'll have to get you back in to sign some more papers, but of course everything will revert back to him."

"That's what I thought. Thank you, you mentioned letters?"

"Of course." Nigel handed both of them the letters and the three discussed some final matters before Rhodey and Pepper left his office.

Once outside Pepper turned to Rhodey. "Why don't you come over to Tony's place and we'll get something in. I've been staying there since...say in half an hour?"

"Sounds good Pepper, and you don't need to explain. I'll see you in half an hour."

Pepper and Rhodey separated clutching their letters, their last links to Tony.

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Please review it'll make me smile even more than I already am.


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